"نجد الجنوبية: رحلة إلى الخرج والأفلاج والسليل ووادي الدواسر في سنة ١٩١٨." [ظ‎‎٢‎٧] (١٠٠/٥٩)

invitation of its chief at the hamlet of Nuaima, one of a group
of three small settlements, the other two being Quaiz and Nazwa.
Though it was comparatively early in the day we decided
to remain where we were till the following morning and to
prepare the way for our further progress by the despatch of
more abusive and threatening letters, the result of which was
eminently satisfactory, as the Council of Dam finally decided to
adopt an attitude of mute protest and passive objection in place
of active resistance to our visit. A small minority including
the local ecclesiastical authority signified their dissent from
this resolution by temporary migration into the desert, but so
far as the rest were concerned we had little to fear barring
accidents.
Accordingly on the following morning (May 30) we set
out along the edge of the oasis on the last stage of our journey
past the village of Matala on our left and the small half-ruined
hamlet of Muqabil on our right with the town of Dam straight
ahead rapidly drawing nearer. " Remember God " muttered
the pious of our party as we came within effective range of the
town; a momentary pause ensued (among us) as we stumbled
unawares on to the local cemetery, and finally five minutes of
nerve tension as we passed along the town wall before groups
of silent spectators on the housetops before we reached and
turned with a distinct feeling of relief into the gate of the Amir's
fort in an open space between the towns of Dam and Mishrif.
Here we remained until the afternoon of June 5 wandering at
will over the whole oasis—of course, armed and in safe numbers—
and no untoward event occurred to spoil the pleasure of our
sojourn.
The distance from Riyadh to Dam by the route we had
followed was 328 miles and the ordinary traveller's route would
be almost exactly 300 miles. The western extremity of the
oasis known as Faraa is another three miles on and the furthest
points reached by me in the course of my tours were a patch of
bushes in the bed of the wadi three miles upstream of Farra
and the knolls ol Mucjattar and Mutaian respectively, two and
a half miles south-west and six miles due west of Dam. From
these last two a wide view was obtained over the desert south
west, west, and north-west. South-west and west this desert is
a bare unattractive expanse of the Dibdiba type, that is to say
generally of a stony character, broken by a considerable number